6 ways unified identity management pays off

The benefits associated with implementing a unified identity system include:

Increased security, which directly correlates to a reduction in identity theft, data breaches and trust violations. Specifically, such an approach closes security gaps in the areas of user identification and authentication, encryption of sensitive data, and logging and auditing.

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Compliance with laws, regulations and standards and the resolution of issues highlighted in Government Accountability Office reports of agency progress.

Improved interoperability, specifically among agencies using their PIV credentials and other partners with PIV-interoperable or third-party credentials that meet the requirements of the federal trust framework. Additional benefits include minimizing the number of credentials that require life cycle management.

Enhanced customer service, both in agencies and with their business partners and constituents. Facilitating secure, streamlined and user-friendly transactions — including information sharing — translates directly into improved customer service scores, lower help-desk costs and increased consumer confidence in agency services.

Elimination of redundancy through agency consolidation of processes and workflow and providing governmentwide services to support the processes, with resulting reductions in the overall cost of the security infrastructure.

Increased protection of personally identifiable information by consolidating and securing identity data, which is done by locating identity data, improving access controls, proliferating the use of encryption and automating provisioning processes.

About the Author

John Zyskowski is a senior editor of Federal Computer Week. Follow him on Twitter: @ZyskowskiWriter.